“Forever Flying”  by R.A. “Bob” Hoover

288 pages full of an amazing piloting life story – I honestly could not put the book away again. Bob Hoover does not only look back at more than 50 years of flying experiences, from barnstorming to army testpiloting, supersonic developments, speed records and a fascinating career in aerobatics, he also met all the important guys making such a difference to flight development: being waved off by Orville Wright when just 24 years old, dinners with Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker and Neil Armstrong, pilot chats with Yuri Gagarin and last not least a close friendship with Chuck Yeager, the first man to fly faster than sound.

The book is packed with fun, excitement, history and lot of learnings for anybody who flies or wants to fly. Somehow in the first hald I stopped counting the mayday calls mentioned, the broken plane or dashboard parts, fires during flights and dead stick landings! On page 202 Hoover tries to summarize his injuries: broken nose, teeth, jaw, both legs….and forgets to mention his broken back after crashing a F 100 during yet another test flight. But above all, his love of flying, knowledge of his planes and their abilities and last not least respect for boundaries even if pushed is tangible in all he and the numerous contemporary witnesses bring together in this fabulous read.

To finish with his own words, said after his first solo and then over and over again when asked why he does what he does: “Every time I fly, I experience another dimension of existence, no longer tied to the earth. I feel free – free of gravity, free of everything. It’s the greatest feeling in the world.”….and so is this book of his life story!

ISBN 978 0 671 537 616